The adoption story

For those of you who haven't heard the story, here it goes...

When Carter turned 1, I got that feeling again. You know, the one Brian is scared of!!! I knew I wanted another child but really didn't think I wanted to go through the emotional rollercoaster of trying to get pregnant. Adoption is always something I have thought about. I think it's a wonderful way to add to a family. I started talking to some families who have adopted and after a lot of soul searching decided this was what I wanted to do. Now on to Brian. Can you imagine me asking Brian for one more child??? And then, adopting? Now I am giving him a bit of a hard time but he listened to me, did his own soul searching and being the loving and giving man that he is, said YES.

We initially chose China for the stability of the program and one of the only international programs open at the time. Little did we know that the wait times were growing on a daily basis. After 6 long months of interviews and an endless amount of paperwork, we were officially logged into China. This means our personal dossier was recorded in China and that is the date we began waiting in line. When we applied to the program we were told it would be 3-4 years before receiving our baby. During those 6 months we learned that the wait would more likely be 8-10 years. Now Brian and I are not old, but not young either. I know this wait sounds unreal, but if you plug our LID (date we were logged into China) into China Adopt Forecast, it predicts we will get our baby in 18 years! No Joke. There are so many reasons the backlog for babies from China is what it is, but that is another post.

After another round of discussions, Brian and I decided to switch to the Special Needs program. I joined lots of groups and met lots of wonderful people through RQ (An adoption website for those involved in China adoption.) On October 1, I was looking through a list of avaiable children in the special needs program and saw her face. That was it and I was in love. Her need listed was confusing. I asked my agency for her file and we had it reviewed by several doctors. Despite the complicated process and still no concrete answers, we are taking a leap of faith and decided to adopt this little girl, Boa Guan Ting. On October 6 we submitted a letter to petition to adopt Guan Ting and on Oct. 13, we received our pre-approval that Guan Ting was now ours! Many people have asked about her special need. The honest truth is that we are not exactly sure. She has an abnormality in her brain and until we bring her home, we will not know the extent of how it will affect her. And that's O.K. We have made the commitment to love this little girl and I can't wait to get her home and have her be a part of our family. Just as you love your unborn child, the love I already have for her is abundant and overflowing.

So about Anna... her given name is Bao Guan Ting. It is translated as "graceful observer." She is called Guan Ting. She was living in the Bao'an SWI in Shenzhen District until she was 1. Shenzhen is at the southern tip of China, right across the border from Hong Kong. At that time she left the orphanage and was placed in foster care. She is still with the same foster family. Her foster family seems to really care for her and she has a strong attachment to them. Anna's bithday is 06/06/2007. She is 2 months older that Carter so I will have virtual twins. According to her foster family, she loves to be with people, loves to eat and play outside, and has an outgoing personality. She should fit right in our controlled choas of a family.

I know this is a very abbreviated version of a long story. So much time, work, thought and emotion has happened over the past year but in the end, we will be the most blessed family to have Anna come into our lives.

Our best guess as to when Brian and I will go to China and get her is April, but stay tuned and we'll keep you updated. She will be close to 3 years old.

Above are some pictures of Anna. They were taken in Oct. 2009.